liarly gratifying to the pious and devoted mind of the | and teacher so highly esteemed as Mrs Ellis, but they subject of this sketch. By frequent attacks, however, earnestly hoped and prayed that her health would be of severe sickness and pain, her pleasure was to some benefited by the voyage, and that, by the kindness of extent alloyed. Her health and strength had been Providence, she would be speedily restored to them. declining ever since the painful and protracted absence from her husband, to which we have already adverted, and her weakness seemed to be every day on the increase. It was thought advisable that she should accompany her husband on a visit to Maui, where Keopuolani, the mother of the king, who had been for some time a most consistent Christian, was dangerously ill. Immediately after their arrival, the queen-mother was baptized by Mr Ellis, and died on the following day, firmly trusting in the merits of her Redeemer. In the arrangements of the funeral Mrs Ellis took a part; and such was the improvement which had taken place in her health, in consequence of this visit to Maui, that she was able to lend assistance in the labours of the Missionaries at that station. On her return along with her husband to Oahu, the most favourable hopes were entertained of her recovery. These hopes, however, were speedily disappointed by a fresh attack of illness. A voyage to England was strongly recommended, as affording, under Providence, the most probable means of restoration to health. With such prospects of extensive usefulness opening everywhere around her, she was very unwilling to quit the station in which Providence had placed her. A partial recovery therefore for a time decided her on postponing the voyage to England, and in the middle of May 1824, she consented to make a short voyage for her health to some of the other islands of the group. The first island which she visited was Maui, where she had a short time before met with so much kindness. Here her health considerably improved, and she proceeded to Kairua in Hawaii, and after an absence of about six weeks in all, she returned to Oahu decidedly benefited by the voyage. The prospects of the mission were evidently becoming brighter, and as her strength increased, she passed much time in conversation with the chief native females, who resorted to her for instruction. Hitherto she had resided chiefly in a native hut, consisting of a light frame of poles and slender sticks, to which a long coarse sort of grass was fastened with strings of tenacious roots, and braided grass. During her absence at Hawaii, however, a small stone house had been erected, of which she took possession in the month of July. It was fondly hoped that the additional comfort which this building afforded would tend to hasten her recovery, but towards the end of the month, her sickness and pain returned with other distressing symptoms. The severity of this attack was considerably aggravated by the tumult which arose in the island, in consequence of an insurrection which had broken out at Tauai, the next island to the west of Oahu; and although the excitement thus occasioned speedily subsided, her strength seemed daily to diminish. All hope of recovery, in her present situation, being thus at an end, she and her husband consented to avail themselves of the kind offer made to them by the captain of an American whaler, which touched at the island, to take a passage to the United States, whence they might proceed to England. The Christian natives, especially the females, regretted the loss of a friend To be removed from a sphere of usefulness so extensive and so encouraging, was to Mrs Ellis a very trying dispensation, and more especially when she saw around her couch, before she was conveyed to the ship, the chief women dissolved in tears. The Christian converts seemed to vie with one another in acts of kindness and attention; and as the vessel left the shore, the prayers of multitudes ascended to heaven in behalf of one whose glory it had been, even amid much bodily weakness, to promote the great cause to which she had devoted her life. In little more than a month after they left Oahu, the vessel reached Huahine-a place endeared to Mrs Ellis by many fond recollections. A short account of this visit to the island is thus given by her husband, in the interesting memorial which he has published of her life and character : "It was the Sabbath, and, excepting a sort of native pilot, no individual came on board; but when the pilot returned, and the tidings of their arrival reached the settlement, the people could not refrain from crowding to the landing-place, to express their mingled feelings of joy at seeing their former teacher, and of sorrow at the report of her illness. The captain increased his stock of provisions, and prepared for the long passage before him, and the passengers enjoyed the delightful privilege of intercourse with the beloved people among whom the happiest years of their lives had been passed, and their affectionate brethren and sisters their teachers. The natives seemed anxious to give every possible expression of their sympathy and affection, by bringing some little token of their regard. The little children, in the Sunday school, also brought their present of arrow-root, sugar-cane, fruit, and fowls, for the children, their former companions, and, as they had hoped, their future teachers. Their fond mother was affected unto tears when she heard of it. While the ship remained in harbour, the people held one of their social entertainments, at which about fourteen hundred were present. At their earnest request, Mrs Ellis was carried to the place of meeting on a couch, and reclined during the repast by the side of the queen and the young princess, who had been her ward, and still called her guardian or mother. It was a source of great pleasure to her to meet the dear people of Huahine tlement, to observe the signs of improvement, which once more, and, as she passed through their neat sethad greatly increased since she left them; but she experienced higher enjoyment in joining with her beloved companions in the worship of the Father of Mercies." After leaving Huahine, they touched at Rurutu and Raivavai; and as they pursued their way to the south, Mrs Ellis's health considerably improved by the increased coolness of the atmosphere, and there was every appearance of gradually returning strength, had not an accident, which occurred to her youngest child, in consequence of falling down the stairs leading from the deck to the cabin, caused a recurrence of her disease with all its wonted severity. The distressing symptoms, however, disappeared as they proceeded on their voyage; and at length, with recruited health and spirits, she reached the port of New Bedford, in Massachusetts, in the beginning of March 1825. As soon after landing as Mrs Ellis was in a fit state to travel, she set out for Boston, where she and her family were treated with the utmost kindness and hos- | pitality. All that Christian sympathy could bestow, was readily afforded, and the best medical aid was promptly procured. But amid all these means of alleviation, her sufferings were frequently so great, as to threaten a speedy termination to her valuable life. It pleased the Lord, however, to raise her up more than once from the very gates of death; and, by the divine goodness, she so far rallied as to be able to remove a few miles from Boston, where she made rapid progress towards recovery; and in a short time she set out for New York, with the view of embarking for England. During the whole of the voyage across the Atlantic, Mrs Ellis was confined to bed; but on reaching her native land, after the fatigue connected with landing had passed away, and the excitement of meeting with relatives and friends, after ten years absence, had subsided, symptoms of progressive amendment began to appear. This, however, was only a transient gleam, which was quickly obscured, and followed by a gloom deep and distressing. Her disease returned with increased violence; and to her bodily sufferings was added the feeling of painful disappointment, arising from the thought that the hopes of recovery which she had entertained from a return to her native country were blasted. In this state of bodily weakness and mental depression she continued through the winter of 1825 and the spring of 1826; and in her diary of the 6th June she thus writes, expressing her feelings of resignation and holy submission to the divine will: : "Still, dear Lord, thou seest best to visit this feeble body with pain and languishing; 'wearisome nights are appointed unto me,' and distressing have been the seasons of pain thou hast called me to bear these last two mouths seasons which sometimes induce the thought, Why are his chariot-wheels so long in coming?' Yet thou knowest I would not be impatient. All the days of my appointed time will I wait, until my change come; and bless thee for the peace and consolation thou constantly affordest. "Cast down, but not destroyed, I bless the hand, My Father's hand, which strengthens while it strikes; what I feel; such joy, such joy, I cannot describe it.' On its being observed to her, 'You now know the faithfulness of God to his promises, in upholding you amidst deep waters,' she replied, Yes, I can now truly say, In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul;' adding, with great emphasis, I would not exchange places with any body not with any body.' "On the following day Mrs Ellis suffered great pain from six to eight o'clock in the morning; but during the short intervals between the paroxysms of pain, she said her mind was delightfully calm; and after reviving, as the pain subsided, she remarked to a friend who expressed sympathy in her suffering, It is not the wormwood and the gall.' On its being observed by Mrs Townley, who was with her at the time, that she had many friends who sympathized with, and prayed for her, she replied, I desire to be perfectly resigned,— I hope they do not keep me out of heaven.' She spoke much of her anticipations of heaven; and when asked, if, in the near approach of the eternal world, she had more distinct views or impressions of the heavenly state than in former life; she answered, It has occupied many of my thoughts, and, though I have no doubt of its perfection and blessedness, I have no distinct view of the nature of existence after death; but I am not anxious about it; I am waiting for the coming of my Lord. In one half hour in heaven, more will be known than by years of conjecture here.' One present remarked, There will be no half hours in heaven;' to which she answered with animation, No, all will be one eternal NOW. I am happy,' she continued, that God has condescended to employ me on earth: I do not regret having engaged in communicating the Gospel to the heathen; had I to spend again the early periods of life, I would make the same choice. I do not regret having lost my health in it, and have never thought that, had I remained in England, I should have lived longer. I dare say Mr Smith, of Demerara, did not regret dying in prison for the cause of Christ. 6 "On the 2d of December, Mrs Ellis, having somewhat less pain than during the preceding day, though faint and weak, appeared to find relief and satisfaction in efforts, though they were exceedingly feeble, to speak of the goodness and mercy of God. My mind,' she remarked, is tranquil;-I have no wish either to live or die, but to continue confiding in my Father, and to know no will but his. I never before felt so much under the influence of the love of God absorbing every faculty of thought. Well might the Apostle Paul speak so frequently of it.' On the language of the Apostle Paul, in the third chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians, (where he speaks of the breadth and length, and depth and height, of the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge,) being repeated, she remarked, My views of the love of God have been vastly enlarged during my affliction. How amazing that we should be the objects of such love! I have learned much of its heights and depths, and lengths and breadths; but one half hour out of the body will unfold more than can be learned in this world. There I shall know all I desired, shall see Jesus,-shall be like him,—and shall be for ever with my Lord.' She then spoke of the goodness of God in giving her such patience and peace, and exclaimed, Well might the apostle call it 'the peace of God." She then spoke of the future, and repeated some verses of the fifty-second hymn, se That she might have the benefit of a change of air, she was removed to an elevated and airy part of Islington, and seemed for a time to gain strength. But in the beginning of October her sufferings became more severe than ever, and it was found necessary to call in additional medical assistance. The means employed to relieve her were quite ineffectual, and to all human appearance she could not long survive. Some of her remarks, during this illness, as recorded by Mr Ellis, cond part of Dr Watts' collection. it may be useful to extract: "About one o'clock on the morning of the 25th of November, she inquired the hour; when informed that it was one o'clock, she observed, I thought it had not been so late,-I have been so employed this last hour, that I cannot tell how the time has gone, or 66 "There is a green and flow'ry mount." Fatigued and exhausted, she asked for a little water, and on its being given her, and remarked that she would soon, perhaps, drink of the river of the fountain love" of life; she exclaimed, Yes, it will be a sea of "Without a bottom or a shore;" and repeated part of the hymn in which the words oc- | "Jesus, the vision of thy face being recited, she repeated the whole, observing, she had always felt delight in the sentiments expressed, and thought she could adopt the language as her own, repeating again, residence, she became every day perceptibly better. Under the emotions of hallowed joy, which her progressive recovery now excited, she thus wrote to a beloved friend in London, in a letter, dated, Newmarket, August 19, 1829 :- "You will see from the date of this, that we have From what I suffered removed from Nailsworth. nearly the whole time that I resided in the town. which, you know, is situated in a valley, and the great improvement in my health since my removal, I am induced to think that Nailsworth was not suited to my constitution, and that it was a wise arrangement in Providence that obliged me to remove thence. O that I may be duly grateful to Him who numbereth the very hairs on our head, and without whose knowledge even a sparrow falleth not to the ground. Behind our house we have a beautiful grove, in a shady and elevated part of which I have had a seat made, on which I am able to recline most days, when the weather is fine, beholdobserved, I feel that I am sinking: I desire rathering, with a pleasure which those only know whose "Death cannot make my soul afraid, If God be with me there : Soft is the passage through the shade, "I feel,' she continued, more like an inhabitant of the celestial world, than of earth.' Afterwards she ་ to be kept tranquil and resigned, than to have rapturous joys. I cannot think much, but am happy in the thoughts of the love of God. I sometimes fear terrors when the symptoms of death appear present, but I am happy.' She then repeated part of the hymn beginning, "Jesus is all my hope. During the month of April 1827, her disease, contrary to all expectation, began to assume a favourable appearance, and before the beginning of June she was able to set out on a visit to some of her friends in Lincolnshire. This journey was productive of great advantage to her health, which, in a short time, was so far restored that she was able to take occasional exercise in the open air, and even to attend public worship, a privilege which she had not enjoyed for four years. She now began to entertain the hope of yet being able to resume her labours in the missionary field, and it was arranged that if she continued to improve she might be able to leave England in the ensuing summer. In the meantime she took leave of her friends in Lincoln and proceeded to Sheffield, where she spent six weeks very pleasantly in the society of some Christian friends. views have been for many months circumscribed by the walls of a sick-chamber, the delightful scenery of our little sequestered valley, and enjoying the benign influence of the pure and refreshing breeze. The scenery is truly charming; and I frequently wish I had you, my dear friend, to feel with me how inviting, how soothing, is nature's tranquil loveliness to those who can exclaim, with Cowper, and all who look above the face of nature to Him who spreadeth forth all its profusion of variety and beauty for his own glory, and for the happiness of man, sinful man "He looks abroad into the varied field Of nature, and though poor, perhaps, compared my dear partner, and the multitude who keep holy day: join me at the same throne of grace; O let us supplicate blessings on each other's heads." And smiling say-My Father made them all! Are they not his by a peculiar right, And by an emphasis of interest his, Whose eye they fill with tears of holy joy, Whose heart with praise, and whose exalted mind With worthy thoughts of that unwearied love, That planned, and ouilt, and still upholds a world So clothed with beauty for rebellious man!" "But whither am I wandering? Cowper, you know, is my favourite poet, and, when I begin quoting from him, I find it difficult to close. What will you say, my dear friend, when I tell you I purpose, God willIn the middle of December she proceeded to Nails-ing, going to the house of God next Sabbath, with worth, in Gloucestershire, for the purpose of passing the winter under the mild climate of that part of the country. Here her health seemed daily to improve, but towards the end of January 1828, some unfavourable symptoms again appeared. Recourse was had to the same treatment which had proved so beneficial at Lincoln. On this occasion, however, it proved unavailing, the disease rapidly gained ground, and the poor sufferer was again reduced to a state of extreme weakness, in which she continued till the month of June, when she recovered so far as to enable her to be removed to a pleasantly situated cottage in the neighbourhood. In this residence her health underwent some improvement, interrupted, however, by occasional re.lapses, which became more frequent as the winter advanced, when she again returned to the village of Nailsworth. Early in the spring of 1829 Mrs Ellis was seized with a severe attack of her disease, which assailed her shattered frame with apparently greater violence than before. But in the following summer she once more revived, and having been removed to a more eligible In the commencement of 1830, Mrs Ellis's mind was greatly relieved from the anxiety which she naturally felt about her children, by the kind offer of two excellent ladies in Dublin to receive her eldest daughter as an inmate of their dwelling, and to superintend her education. An offer of a similar kind was made by another lady in the same town to take charge of the youngest. These proposals were gratefully accepted, and the two children removed to the metropolis of Ireland, where they remained, the eldest for two, and the youngest for three years. Thus relieved of one great cause of her solicitude, Mrs Ellis's health gradually improved, and in the middle of April she removed to London, where she was cordially welcomed by her friends and relatives on her return, after an absence of three years. Shortly after her arrival in the metropolis, a visit to the sea-side was recommended, and Here the most she set out, accordingly, for Brighton. alarming symptoms again appeared, and for some time her friends entertained the most fearful apprehensions as to the result. The means employed, however, to alleviate her sufferings were, by the divine blessing, to a certain extent, successful, and hopes were cherished that she might yet be raised from her bed of sickness, restlessness, and pain. Vain were all such expectations; the disease recurred with unabated violence, and for some months her life was regarded as in a very precarious state. But it was not the will of God that she should yet enter into rest. She once more rallied, and in December 1831 she was conveyed to London, where Mr Ellis had received a permanent employment. In the metropolis her health continued, during more than two years, in the same unsatisfactory state as at Brighton, alternating between apparent improvement and augmented suffering. During the whole course of her illness, the temporal comfort and spiritual improvement of her children dwelt much upon her mind, and it was a peculiar source of delight when, in 1834, the whole were collected under one roof. Though still confined to bed, and evidently becoming daily weaker and weaker, she spent much of her time in conversing with her family on the things that pertained to their everlasting peace. This high privilege they were not long permitted to enjoy, for although, in the opening of the year 1835, no perceptible change to the worse had taken place, this affectionate mother, this eminent Christian, was suddenly summoned, on the 11th of January of that year, from this world, which had been to her, in all its emphatic meaning, a vale of tears, and called to enter into the joy of her Lord. "Help, Lord; for the godly ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men." EXPERIENCE OF THE HEATHEN. BY THE REV. J. A. WALLACE, Minister of Hawick. No. VI. THE ABORIGINES OF BORNEO. "THERE is none righteous, no, not one; there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God; they are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one: their throat is an open sepulchre: with their tongues they have used deceit: the poison of asps is under their lips: their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways: the way of peace have they not known; and there is no fear of God before their eyes." Such is the description which is given in the Word of God of the depravity of human nature--a description which is no less true than appalling: for in the Bible there are no high coloured statements-no extravagant exaggeration of facts. Yet there are multitudes who cannot understand how this description should admit of application to human nature in general. For when they look around them, what do they find to be the actual aspect of society? Instead of the blasphemy, and bitterness, and bloodshed, that are presented in the picture of the inspired apostle, they discover a vast deal of personal comfort, and domestic blessedness, and commercial prosperity, and social order. And such being the fact, they are apt to conclude, that there must be a mistake in the statements of the Bible-that though human nature may be sadly changed, and even greatly corrupted, it is by no means so bad as has been actually alleged-nay, that there is even something like a contradiction between the broad and sweeping statements of Scripture on the one hand, and the avowed manifestations of human depravity on the other. Plausible, however, as such a conclusion may seem to be, it is certainly far from being well founded. For what is the real state of the case? Such men forget altogether, that they are looking, not to the natural, but to an artificial state of society-that they are contemplating human nature, not as it is in itself, but as it has been modified, or corrected, or improved, by the agency of rational and undefiled religion. It is this which has extended its purifying and transforming influence over the whole movements of society in the land in which it is our privilege to dwell, and which makes human nature appear to us so different from what the Bible represents it to be. But, if we go to the lands where the influence of Christianity is unfelt, and where the passions of human nature are consequently permitted to develope themselves without resistance or control, the result then is as different as it is deplorable. The worst features in the picture of human depravity are in that case completely realized; the bonds by which the inhabitants of Christian lands are knit together, for their mutual advantage, are there rent utterly asunder; and men's passions raging against each other with a ferocity, unbridled and unrestrained, seem as if they would bring the whole fabric of society into utter ruins. Of this we have a striking illustration in the account which is given in Abeel's Residence in China, of the Dyaks, or aborigines of Borneo. "With respect to the present state of the Dyaks, it would be difficult, nay, impossible, to find their equals in all that disgraces and degrades human nature. Others are far below them in mental and bodily enervation, but we read of none so debased in the scale of depravity. In unprovoked, unrestrained barbarity, they exceed the American Indian, the Charib, and the New Zealander. How much they need the blessings of Christianity, may be gathered from their present mode of life. War is their business, murder their pastime, and the trophies of cruelty their proudest distinction. Nothing is too high for their daring, nothing too low for their despicable cruelty. All who belong not to their confederacy are reputed enemies, whose heads they endeavour to secure, at any hazard, and by any means. The unfair and savage manner in which they prosecute their warlike expeditions, or rather their expeditions in search of human heads, is abhorrent beyond all parallel. Insulated buts, defenceless campongs, unwary fishermen, wretched stragglers, old and young of either sex, are alike their prey. The men and elder women are inevitably murdered; the young women and children they seize for slaves. In an expedition of Selgie, one of the most powerful chiefs, which lasted for three months, they took seven hundred heads. Such is the importance attached to a warrior who possesses many heads, that he takes his place in the presence of the Rajah with the air of exalted worth; while those who are destitute of these distinguishing trophies, are glad to creep into any corner to escape notice. "Human heads grace the occurrence of every important event. They are employed to celebrate a Dyak's birth, and to consecrate his marriage; to mitigate his diseases, and to appease his spirit after death. Mar riage is always referred to the Rajah, who calls before | him the young man and the father of the girl. If the latter can produce ten heads, the former must show half the number, in the expectation that when his age equals that of the other, the emblems of their bravery will be alike. If the young man is unable to produce the requisite number, he summons a few friends, and sallies forth in search of the deficiency, well aware that if he do not succeed his lasting disgrace will be the consequence. Every head is submitted to a close examination, and none but those of recent victims are admis tinguished by all the charms of innocence, and simplicity, and peace, we discover, on the contrary, nothing that is more obvious than their likeness, literally, and in every feature, to the picture which is drawn by an apostle: "They are without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful; being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, despiteful, proud, boasters, disobedient to parents, inventors of evil things." sible. A part of the ceremony consists in both parties taking a head in each hand, and dancing round each But how different is it with ourselves? We dwell other, with the most extravagant gestures, amidst the applauses of the Rajah and people. Upon the death of in a peaceful neighbourhood, but seldom disturbed by a chief, the mound in which the body is deposited must the perpetration of deeds of bloodshed and of villany, be studded with fresh heads, as the most acceptable where we can lie down in safety, and rise again in offering to the deceased. No warrior can presume to peace, alive to all the endearments of social and domake a visit of condolence to the family, without bring-mestic intercourse, secure in the possession of our ing at least one head for the occasion. During the first year or two, these heads are occasionally changed. All kinds of sickness are supposed to be under the influence of malignant spirits, whom nothing can so well propitiate as human heads. "What mournful ravages must a custom so prevalent and desolating spread throughout this vast island! What numbers of victims are annually required for such numberless purposes! What can prevent a total and speedy extermination of all these ignorant, ill-fated tribes, if Christian charity slumber much longer over their appeals for mercy? In their amusements, and sometimes even in their domestic economy, the same reckless disregard for human life is evinced. They are extravagantly fond of cock-fighting, and stake almost every thing they can command upon the game. If the sum be lost, and not paid within twenty-four hours, the winner has a legal right to dispatch his debtor, and he generally does it. Upon an expedition, if the Rajah's appetite craves fresh meat, and an inferior animal is not at hand, one of his train is butchered, and served up as a substitute. When the men of wealth bury their treasure, which is a common custom, they uniformly destroy the slaves who assisted them, that the secret of the depository may be confined to themselves. 66 It is difficult to determine what religious notions the Dyaks entertain. They have no apparent dread of dying. Their great fear is the loss of these human heads, and this they deprecate more than the majority in Christian lands do the loss of their souls. Yet that there are evidently some glimmerings of a future state in their darkened minds, may be gathered from their burial rites, and from other circumstances which are grounded upon a belief in the continued existence of the spirit." This, surely, is a horrible picture! Men made in the image of God, glutting themselves with blood-marking even their seasons of festivity with the reckless butchery of their fellow-creatures-and ranking murder in its naked hideousness amongst the proudest and most honourable of their distinctions! It truly shows what human nature is when left to itself what strange delusions it can follow-what atrocious wickedness it can perpetrate and with what marvellous ingenuity it can turn this bright and beautiful world into the horrid vestibule of hell. Yet it teaches an important lesson to ourselves, and may prompt us to set a higher value on our privileges. Here we have a people left in a state of nature, free apparently from every thing like restraint, and giving full development to the principles inherent in their nature, but so far from realizing in their experience the splendid fictions of the poet and the infidel, when they speak of a state of nature as dis rights, as members of society, and even sitting under our vine and under our fig-tree, worshipping God according to the dictates of our consciences, and having none to make us afraid. Whence these invaluable privileges? What maketh us to differ from the most brutal and blood-thirsty How comes it to pass that savages of other lands? the mere mention of the deeds in which they are disposed to glory, is fitted to send the thrill of horror and of righteous indignation through our spirits? It is not because we have been differently constituted, or have deserved better things, than they, at the hands of God, but because we have been differently situated, and are greater debtors to the riches of his sovereign grace. In our own hearts naturally there are the principles of the worst corruptions that have ever been exhibited by the most reprobate of the children of men. We need only to be left to ourselves to give expression at any possible for human nature to display, and if our detime to the fiercest and foulest passions which it is pravity at the present moment does not manifest itself in the most obnoxious form, or proceed to the utmost possible extent, it is owing to no virtue inherent in ourselves, but to the restraints of the word, and providence, and grace, of Almighty God. It is Christianity, in short, to which we are indebted for the highest of our privileges, and which is so happily blended with all our laws, and usages, and institutions, and modes of worship, that it is scarcely possible for any man to live within the borders of our land, without sharing, to some extent, in the blessings it is fitted to diffuse. Yet let no man satisfy himself with advantages that are merely external, or think for a moment, that because his outward conduct may be somewhat ameliorated by the artificial refinements of society, his wellbeing for eternity is completely and permanently secured. Something besides this is indispensable. The evil and accursed thing which God abhorreth must be more than fettered or restrained; it must be totally eradicated from his nature. And till this radical and essential change is effected, through the regenerating power of God's Holy Spirit, he has still the elements of hell within him, covered up, it may be, for a season, from the observation of his fellow-men, and apparently inert, but yet possessing the power to burst forth into fierce and hideous manifestation. Even in the present world and in spite of barriers which seem at first sight to be impregnable, these elements |